Monday, June 04, 2007

The return of the Twelve Tribes

A chap called David asks Brant Pitre, author of one of my two favourite books – together with Wright's – on the historical Jesus thus far (though I'm yet to work through Bird's offering – someone annoyingly ordered it back to the library before I could read it) a good question about the prophesied return of the Twelve Tribes and the supposed start of its fulfilment in Jesus and his ministry:

"If Jesus seeks to bring about the restoration of Israel, then what happens to God's promise to gather the lost tribes of Israel back to the land (cf. Isa 11; Ezek 37; Mic 4, etc.)? Is this promise simply abandoned? Or does the New Testament "over-spiritualize the gospel" (David's words) it by referring it to the heavenly Jerusalem (e.g., Heb 12)? As he said, "Doesn't there have to be a bit more to it than that?""

3 Comments:

I like Wright as well but I think I would put Meyer's "The Aims of Jesus" (1979) ahead of "Jesus and the Victory of God". Meyer was SO FAR ahead of his time--long before Sanders' "Jesus and Judaism" (1985) he was all about "restoration" in Jewish thought. My only real beef with Meyer is his translation of "kingdom" as "reign". I think that obscures the Davidic dimension of Jesus' mission and downplays a significant element of Jewish expectations. Aside from that, it is, I think, the single most overlooked book in Jesus research.

Meyer's work on Critical Realism also had HUGE influence on the field later on--but again, most people neglect him.

On another note, as per your book suggestion, I am happy to tell you that I have Fatehi's book. Though I never finished it, I was thoroughly impressed. I LOVED his overview of the Spirit in Jewish sources--what a great resource! And what I read from his treatment on Paul was great... now I've got to go back and finish it!!!